A window into applied science supported by INL

A multidisciplinary team of scientists led by the Université de Montréal has discovered a process to produce new metal surfaces that promise to lead to superior medical implants that will improve healing and allow the human body to better accept metal prostheses.

According to new research published in Nano Letters, the scientists capitalized on recent advances in nanotechnology to change how metals can influence cell growth and development in the body. A critical aspect of the finding is that the surfaces can directly stimulate cells – thereby eliminating the need for pharmaceuticals and resulting side-effects.

The study is a collaboration between the Université de Montréal, McGill University, the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-EMT), Plasmionique Inc and the Universidade de São Paulo.

“Using chemical modification, we have produced metals with intelligent surfaces that positively interact with cells and help control the biological healing response,” says Antonio Nanci, the study’s senior author and a professor at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Dentistry. “These will be the building-blocks of new and improved metal implants that are expected to significantly affect the success of orthopedic, dental and cardiovascular prostheses.”

Dr. Nanci and colleagues applied chemical compounds to modify the surface of the common biomedical metals such as titanium. Exposing these metals to selected etching mixtures of acids and oxidants results in surfaces with a sponge-like pattern of nano (ultra small) pits. “We demonstrated that some cells stick better to these surfaces than they do to the traditional smooth ones,” says Dr. Nanci. “This is already an improvement to the standard available biomaterial.”

The researchers then tested the effects of the chemically-produced nanoporous titanium surfaces on cell growth and development. They showed that the treated surfaces increased growth of bone cells, decreased growth of unwanted cells and stimulated stem cells, relative to untreated smooth ones. In addition, expression of genes required for cell adhesion and growth were increased in contact with the nanoporous surfaces. Read more about this research here

A research laboratory in the forefront of knowledge and technology like the INL needs advice of leading experts. The next meeting of the INL International Advisory Board will be held in Braga on Friday, January 23rd, 2009. The significant track records and achievements of all members will offer a uniquely exciting opportunity to succesfully advance in different areas of INL project.

FLUOROMAG is an European consortium formed by well known European research Institutions such as the Max Planck for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen-Germany, the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain; The University of Twente at The Netherlands; The University of Nottingham Trent in UK and Nanogap Sub-nm-powder SA, from Spain.

The consortium will organize, in March 27-29th, a conference about Nanodots and diagnostics in the city of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) . Some speakers keep a close relation with the INL project.

We came across a really interesting article on medical devices. You an read the introduction here and read the rest of it at nanowerk.

«Ever since the 1966 Hollywood movie, doctors have imagined a real-life Fantastic Voyage a medical vehicle shrunk small enough to “submarine” in and fix faulty cells in the body. Thanks to new research by Tel Aviv University scientists, that reality may be only three years away

The blueprints for the submarine and a map of its proposed maiden voyage were published earlier this year in Science by Dr. Dan Peer, who now leads the Tel Aviv University team at the Department of Cell Research and Immunology. The team will build and test-run the actual “machine” in human bodies. Dr. Peer originally developed the scenario at Harvard University.

Made from biological materials, the real-life medical submarine’s Fantastic Voyage won’t have enough room for Raquel Welch, but the nano-sized structure will be big enough to deliver the payload: effective drugs to kill cancer cells and eradicate faulty proteins».

The image shows a nanoparticle decorated with targetins agents that guide it to a specific cell type, leaving healthy cells untouched.

NanoBioNet has developed a multi-lingual (German, English and French) experimental kit (NanoSchoolBox) to teach school students about nanotechnology. Some of the contents in this NanoSchoolBox are suitable to demonstrate with experiments; others can be integrated without too much preparation into hands-on lessons with guidance of a teacher. The box has been developed within an EFRE project that includes the European diffusion. You can learn a little more about the amazing box here

INL – News

New INL researcher Marta Prado

Marta Prado is INL´s latest researcher and has just settled in in Braga. She has an advanced degree in Food Science and Technology and studies in Biology Science from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Marta has a PhD from the same university in the program of Nutrition, Bromatology and Food technology.

Between the years 1999 and 2006, our new Spanish colleague has been working as a researcher in the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences (Lugo, Spain) from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). Between 2006 and 2010, she has been working as Scientific Officer in the Institute of Reference Materials and Measurements from the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (EC-JRC-IRMM) in Geel, Belgium.

Most of her research experience is related with genomic analysis tools and its application to food analysis, since she had worked on the development and optimization of PCR-based methods for the control of food and animal feeds. In the INL, she will work on the application of magnetic nanobiosensors for the detection of ruminant origin meals in feed.